“Our documentary puts Gene’s optimistic orthodoxy under scrutiny, and poses the question: Could Gene have made his Star Trek in today’s time?” Trek Nation director and executive producer Scott Colthorp told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. “Many of our interviewees commented that Star Trek began to lose much of its optimistic tone after Gene’s passing in 1991.”

“Abrams’ re-envisioning was long overdue,” said the Brooklyn, New York-based Colthorp, who became a Trekkie after watching the legendary two-part episode “The Menagerie” as a philosophy student in college. “The franchise needed some fresh talent, and J.J. brought an action-packed film of the highest order. It lacked many of Gene’s humanistic themes, but I think it takes an ambitious, action-oriented and philosophically minded artist to speak deeply about the human condition without boring today’s youthful audience.”

Geeky Lost mastermind Abrams is interviewed, along with sci-fi legends George Lucas, Patrick Stewart, Stan Lee and others, to help Colthorp and Gene’s son Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry parse the continuing cultural meaning of Star Trek. What they ultimately find is that there is no easy answer for a global village amped on terrorism, militarism and reality television.

“Gene Roddenberry was concerned about terrorism in the late ’80s when he created The Next Generation,” Colthorp said. “He talked about it in interviews, and explored it with writers in episodes through the years. And even with the rise of postmodernism and its moral relativity, Gene kept his optimism about humankind’s potential. But many of the writers weren’t so keen with his grand narrative. One of the show’s top writers felt that Gene may have taken his optimism too far.”

Currently, Trek Nation is wrapped and ready to launch, as soon as its makers settle on a distributor. Until then, Trek Nation will remain in the throes of a curious millennial metamorphosis. Those searching to go where Roger Nygard’s warm, quirky 1997 documentary Trekkies has already gone before will be in for a sci-fi surprise.

“Ten years ago, Rod Roddenberry and I set out to create a film that was, in many ways, an antithesis to Trekkies,” Colthorp explained. “We agreed that Trek Nation would not focus on the overzealous, costumed fans. We wanted to explore the roots of the show’s enduring popularity and endurance from the perspective of a son, Rod, who lost his father when he was 17. What we discovered was an ex-cop with a philosophical bent, and the courage to share his ideals in the form of a television show.”